Friday, December 26, 2014

Understanding Freedom

Warning: Spoilers for the movie, Wild are below.

I just went to see the movie, Wild. It's the true story of a woman who goes through all kinds of traumas and engages in a ton of self-destructive behaviors including shooting up heroin and sleeping with anything on two legs. The movie is about her 90-day journey hiking the Pacific Coast Trail, trying to recover from the death of her mother. As the movie follows her sojourn, it relives parts of her life. In the end, she "finds herself" or something like that.

As an aside, "finding herself" amounts to little more than deciding she's just fine and all the horrible things she did, like putting a loving husband through hell as she runs off to live with a pack of heroin addicts, forcing him to come and rescue her, were just fine. So I guess she didn't find herself so much as encase her sins in amber and declare them Good. And that took her 90 days. On the plus side, it seemed to be cathartic.

There's a lot to be said about the movie, but near the end, as she's narrating what she's learned, the recurring theme of freedom in Christian music made complete sense to me. Here was this woman who took 90 days wandering off in the wilderness trying to find meaning while I have found meaning without having to endure a zillion-mile hike. That's a ton of freedom in my book. I am free to do all kinds of things while those trapped inside their self-worship need to burn precious chunks of their lives looking for things I already have.

The song below in particular leaped into my head as we left the theater and I probably won't hear it again without thinking of this poor woman and the hundreds of thousands out there just like her.

Through You the darkness flees...
Through You I'm not afraid
Through You the price is paid...
I am free
Yes, I am free

1 comment:

1 hour in church per week comes to 52 hours per year, or 4,160 hours over an 80-year lifespan.

4,160/24 = 173 days, or about 5.7 months.

So, as far as I can see, your time spent is actually about double her 90 days in the wilderness (especially since this isn't counting various retreats and volunteer activities). You're just spreading it out a lot instead of taking it in one lump.